In The Eleventh And Thirteenth Chapters Of Their Eyes Were

Tea Cake is Janie’s prince in shining armor. He is her fairytale ending, at least for now. Tea Cake is the embodiment of true love. True love is expressed through respect, trust, and honesty. Tea Cake not only does these things, but he also bases his happiness off of Janie’s happiness, believes that Janie’s age is just a number, and eventually envelops Janie into his world. Tea Cake loves Janie so much that whenever she is happy, he is happy. This normally only occurs in cases of true love, because you need to be practically selfless in order to base your happiness solely on someone else's. When Tea Cake comes back to the store a second time to see Janie, he started humming and mimicking playing a guitar. He did not enter the building, but

In chapters eleven through fifteen, Janie goes from not trusting Tea Cake to having complete trust in him. At first, Janie was cautious of Tea Cake because her friends warned her that he would marry her only for her money “you oughtn’t ‘low dat Tea Cake tuh be walkin’ tuh de house wid yuh”(102). The town’s people think that Janie should not waste her time with Tea Cake on account of him being poor. When Janie left Eatonville with Tea Cake she brought $200 with her in case she needed it “she found her two hundred dollars was gone”(118). At this point Janie feared that the town’s people had been right about Tea Cake. When Tea Cake returns home he explains that he when he saw her money he got really excited and went on a spending spree, and attended

Janie’s initial reaction to Mr. Killiks wasn’t good at all really. She didn’t like him and only hoped that she eventually would. With Joe Starks, Janie was, for one, in a relationship she didn’t want to be in which probably heavily influenced her to get with him, and secondly, was only interested in his looks and style. Janie was basically trying to live her love life her own way and was more focused on getting out of the shell that Nanny put her in rather than the actual relationship itself, so Joe didn’t bring the desire and lust that Tea Cake brings out of Janie because there was no real attraction. Another thing that makes Tea Cake stand out from this quote is that the author says that he is a glance from God. This is a big thing, not only because God is considered to be the almighty creator and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but also because the title of the book is Their Eyes Were Watching God. Seeing that Tea Cake is somewhat of a reference to the title makes readers have to pay attention to him more and speculate his intentions with

Later on in the novel, Tea Cake also took Janie to the local Sunday school picnic, which was a huge gesture that shows that he respected Janie. While at the Sunday school picnic, Tea Cake tells Janie, “Naw, it ain’t all right with you. If it was, you wouldn’t be saying dat. Have de nerve tuh say whut you mean”. This shows that Tea Cake valued Janie's thoughts and thoughts of her in such equalness that he wanted her to say what she wanted to say.

Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, self-growth is evident in one specific character, Janie, by the help of her significant other. Teacake is an ideal mate for Janie because he helps her achieve freedom. Shortly after the two meet, Teacake automatically views Janie as an intelligent and able being instead of regarding her as inferior to the male race. Teacake offers Janie to a game of chess, and she cannot help but be fascinated over the thought that, “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it was natural for her to play. That was even nice” (Hurston 96). In general, men in Eatonville regard women as physically and morally weaker than men due to the strict basis of gender. On the other hand, Teacake notices that Janie has more to her than just looks and is bright enough to partake in common-folk activities without being

Tea Cake’s actions in the story strongly indicate that he complicated Janie’s life. For instance, Tea Cake’s jealousy was demonstrated when Mrs. Turner was fascinated by Janie’s Caucasian features

Tea Cake performs the old courtship rituals, indulges in shooting and razor fighting, and plays the dozens and the blues. Compared with Killicks and Starks, former husbands of Janie, Tea Cake prefers interaction and people to ‘things’: “So us goin’ off somewhere and start all in Tea Cake’s way. Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game” (134). In this pastoral setting, Janie regains her voice to tell narratives. Janie feels free to join the notorious ‘lying’ and tale-telling sessions whenever she wants to: “She got so, she could tell big stories herself from listening to the rest” (158). Yet, even with Tea Cake, she has to face intermittent crises and physical aggression. S. Jay Walker has

This is not because she did anything wrong, but rather because a neighbor’s brother showed interest in her. Tea Cake was not, truly, free of the misogynistic stereotypes of women, and the event showed deep down the possessiveness he felt for her. “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Again, Janie is in a marriage where her husband thinks of her as a property. Tea Cake’s character brought much hope for a lifestyle in which Janie could be independent and powerful, participate in conversation and checkers, and be respected on an equal level. Ultimately, Tea Cake was still possessive, and in many ways was not in fact free of the suppressing beliefs of society as a whole. His character is evident of how deep rooted the beliefs were. Tea Cake passed away, but Janie carried on, returned to Eatonville, once again showcasing her

Tea Cake respects Janie and he’s a very supportive partner. Joe Starks and Tea Cake’s marriage with Janie were the two important life changing lessons in Janie’s life. Two characters, Jody and Tea Cake, shared similarities but also differences. Jody and Tea Cake both want to take control of Janie.

Tea Cake was Janie's third husband.  He was a simple person who returned kindness for kindness.  He saw women as equal human beings and told them that.  He was very passive in thought, but smart in his own ways.  His desire in life was to love and be loved.

Even before Joe’s death, Janie “was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew not how to mix them.”(75) Joe’s influences controlled Janie to the point where she lost her independence and hope. She no longer knew how to adapt to the change brought upon her. When she finally settles and begins to gain back that independence, the outward existence of society came back into play. “Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing. Dey needs aid and assistance.”(90) Except this time Janie acted upon her own judgment and fell for someone out of the ordinary. Tea Cake was a refreshing change for Janie, despite the society’s disapproval. “Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.”(128) This was what she had always dreamt of. When she was with Tea Cake, she no longer questioned inwardly, she simply rejected society’s opinions and acted upon her own desires.

Janie was no longer letting anything control her any longer. She was making her own decisions now by talking to Jordan and not listening to her grandmother, who told her to respect her husband. With the results of this, Janie ran from Killicks to marry Joe for numerous years while waiting for her hunger for love to be filled. However it never was with Joe. After the death of Joe, Janie soon found Tea Cake, who gave her the love she starved for: “after a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind” (Hurston 107). Hurston gave Janie Tea Cake to show that she was no longer going to wait around and wait for love. She was now going to find it herself. Proving that she was no longer the naive girl who sat under a tree and dreamed all day.

Janie still didn’t give up hope in finding her identity and how she wanted her freedom. She tried marriage for the third time with tea cake. She knew tea cake would be different form the rest. He treats Janie better and he treats her more as a human and he actually treats her as if she belongs. When they got married he gave her gifts. Tea ake is humble and he knows where he come from he doesn’t act luke he has it all. “According to In order to demonstrate his lack of interest in material things, Teacake takes

Tea Cake returns home after Janie has a panic attack regarding the two hundred dollars she thought he stole. She assumed he had run off, but he returned with it. This sets up trust between the two parties. Additionally, there is understanding between the two of them, as Tea Cake accepts that she wishes to accompany him to future events. This also sets them up to spend time with each other instead of Janie being isolated like she was with Jody.

     As two different people, Janie and Tea Cake are allowed to live their lives as equals. When living with Joe, Janie is never allowed to do things such as speaking her mind, playing games, or doing anything which is not completely ladylike. Tea Cake encourages her to do things which were previously not open to her, such as playing chess, speaking openly about her feelings, and hunting. He teaches Janie to shoot and hunt wild game.